SCORES of police cars were seen streaming onto Phuket today in preparation for the Asean summit session.
Officials have said as many as 350 cars will be needed once the VIPs from 26 countries and Thailand descend on the island.
We counted about 50 going past down Thepkasattri Road then turning towards the Laguna Phuket resort complex, where the talks will be centred.
The numbers are large, and growing larger. We were sceptical of the figure of 10,000 military being involved in the protection of Phuket from the 20 active red shirts on the island.
Today an official told the AFP news agency: ''Altogether there will be a 14,000-strong force including members of the military, police, volunteers, rangers and Interior Ministry officials.''
If they would each take a room in a resort, Phuket's cash flow problems might be rapidly reduced. However, our photographer snapped one military man snoozing today on a camp stretcher at a local school . . . check the sneaky Photo Album above.
We suspect the accommodation for the protective force will not be nearly as sumptuous as that of the VIPs.
Luckiest among them will probably snooze and play in the three-storey townhouses, each with a rooftop pool, that sit at the Dusit Thai Laguna Resort, an Aung San Suu Kyi swim across the lagoon from the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket, where most of the talks will take place.
While the governor's flower pots were stolen the other day outside the Phuket International Airport, there are plenty more where they came from.
The man who has provided most of the shrubs and flowers being used to welcome the delegates from 26 countries has a 29-rai plot on Phuket.
But there's not a lot left there now, says the owner, Somchai Sakullachid.
He thinks his blooms are fabulous, and he has ordered other spectacular blossoms from all over Thailand to impress the visitors every day with tropical profusion.
Back to those big numbers: At least 10 million baht is being spent on flowers and shrubs for the occasion.
Today the children at a school near Laguna Phuket watched helicopters come and go, and wished they were passengers.
The children may have more time to watch the VIPs if all the island's schools are closed, as anticipated, because of the spread of H1N1.
Of course, the children will then be free to go to shopping malls and mix with even more people than they would if they were at school.
Extra precautions are expected to check on the health of important international delegates, possibly including daily H1N1 scans.
Today, hundreds of local residents were still lining up for security passes that will get them through the Internal Security Act military rings planned for the north of the island.
One estimate is that 50,000 permits, round ones for cars and triangular for motorcycles, have already been issued. Another 10,000 have been ordered.
Inside the Laguna Phuket complex, home to seven resorts with the addition of a new Outrigger to open in December, police have set up a checkpoint at the junction where the left turn goes to Laguna Beach Resort.
Down at the Sheraton Grande Laguna, a huge welcome sign was in the process of going up. But the flowers?
They will have to wait a couple of days, until Khun Somchai or another supplier delivers, fresh every day.
Thai soldiers already on Phuket awaiting the arrival of the thousands of reinforcements went to Pa Klok today to give food to a group of elderly people at a home there.
We salute them. And we wish more soldiers around the world did their duty in the same kind of way.
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Officials have said as many as 350 cars will be needed once the VIPs from 26 countries and Thailand descend on the island.
We counted about 50 going past down Thepkasattri Road then turning towards the Laguna Phuket resort complex, where the talks will be centred.
The numbers are large, and growing larger. We were sceptical of the figure of 10,000 military being involved in the protection of Phuket from the 20 active red shirts on the island.
Today an official told the AFP news agency: ''Altogether there will be a 14,000-strong force including members of the military, police, volunteers, rangers and Interior Ministry officials.''
If they would each take a room in a resort, Phuket's cash flow problems might be rapidly reduced. However, our photographer snapped one military man snoozing today on a camp stretcher at a local school . . . check the sneaky Photo Album above.
We suspect the accommodation for the protective force will not be nearly as sumptuous as that of the VIPs.
Luckiest among them will probably snooze and play in the three-storey townhouses, each with a rooftop pool, that sit at the Dusit Thai Laguna Resort, an Aung San Suu Kyi swim across the lagoon from the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket, where most of the talks will take place.
While the governor's flower pots were stolen the other day outside the Phuket International Airport, there are plenty more where they came from.
The man who has provided most of the shrubs and flowers being used to welcome the delegates from 26 countries has a 29-rai plot on Phuket.
But there's not a lot left there now, says the owner, Somchai Sakullachid.
He thinks his blooms are fabulous, and he has ordered other spectacular blossoms from all over Thailand to impress the visitors every day with tropical profusion.
Back to those big numbers: At least 10 million baht is being spent on flowers and shrubs for the occasion.
Today the children at a school near Laguna Phuket watched helicopters come and go, and wished they were passengers.
The children may have more time to watch the VIPs if all the island's schools are closed, as anticipated, because of the spread of H1N1.
Of course, the children will then be free to go to shopping malls and mix with even more people than they would if they were at school.
Extra precautions are expected to check on the health of important international delegates, possibly including daily H1N1 scans.
Today, hundreds of local residents were still lining up for security passes that will get them through the Internal Security Act military rings planned for the north of the island.
One estimate is that 50,000 permits, round ones for cars and triangular for motorcycles, have already been issued. Another 10,000 have been ordered.
Inside the Laguna Phuket complex, home to seven resorts with the addition of a new Outrigger to open in December, police have set up a checkpoint at the junction where the left turn goes to Laguna Beach Resort.
Down at the Sheraton Grande Laguna, a huge welcome sign was in the process of going up. But the flowers?
They will have to wait a couple of days, until Khun Somchai or another supplier delivers, fresh every day.
Thai soldiers already on Phuket awaiting the arrival of the thousands of reinforcements went to Pa Klok today to give food to a group of elderly people at a home there.
We salute them. And we wish more soldiers around the world did their duty in the same kind of way.
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